puddle

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
puddle/ˈpʌdl/

▶noun

• 1 a small pool of liquid, especially of rainwater on the ground.

• 2 clay and sand mixed with water and used as a watertight covering for embankments.

• 3 Rowing a circular patch of disturbed water made by the blade of an oar at each stroke.

▶verb

• 1 cover with or form puddles.

• 2 (puddle about/around) dabble or wallow in mud or shallow water.

  ■ informal occupy oneself in a disorganized or unproductive way.

• 3 line (a hole) with puddle.

  ■ knead (clay and sand) into puddle.

  ■ work (mixed water and clay) to separate gold or opal.

• 4 (usu. as noun puddling) chiefly historical stir (molten iron) with iron oxide in a furnace, to produce wrought iron by oxidizing carbon.

– derivatives
puddler noun,
puddly adjective.

– origin ME: dimin. of OE pudd ‘ditch, furrow’; cf. Ger. dial. Pfudel ‘pool’.